Social Reporters Network
Submitted by: Clare White
Describe your idea. What will you do?
We will coordinate the setup and running of a series of 1-day workshops run by freelance social reporters for people in their communities.
There is no shortage of free tools that can be used to improve democracy and connectivity within communities and to government. The problem is that they are not used because of lack of confidence, knowledge of them or time. This is a widespread issue, but the most voiceless communities are those that suffer high levels of disconnection and poverty.
There is plenty of evidence to show that where a community group can build a website, it has an impact on their ability to contact the local council, run campaigns, collaborate on projects and make new acquaintances in their neighbourhood.
This project builds a network of social reporters who will train around 700 community activists in the use of social media.
Using a wiki and tagging tools, freelance social reporters will develop a common resource bank and workshop content in order to deliver a training session for community activists who have themselves volunteered to become social reporters for their organisations.
In many cases, this project will be an extension of social reporters' normal work and a paid element (�£200) is designed to be compensation for time in seeking out participants (ideally from community groups that want an online presence but currently have none), delivering the workshop and follow-up to reinforce online content. With a budget of �£15,000 around 70 workshop days for around 10 people could take place, with a budget also available for coordination, room hire (hopefully libraries could be used, adding to the public visibility of the project) and coordination/evaluation/liaison.
The developed workshop content, resource bank and any other resources developed within the project would be available for use by anybody applying for funding to improve community connectivity and engagement.
What will the benefits be?
- clusters of supportive volunteer networks who will build new online communities and assist in connecting online and offline spheres of conversation, ideas and concerns.
- a development in collaborative working between social reporters and further definition of the concept itself, potentially sparking new projects and raising their awareness of community work in voiceless areas
- a strong resource bank of tools and websites from the grassroots to government level, possibly linked to existing resource banks or tools
- greater presence of community groups from disconnected areas on the internet that can be listened to by policy makers and political representatives.
Who will you target?
- People who are already active in their communities and who are interested in widening participation - the natural reporters - but may have little or no experience of using the internet.
- The project will be delivered through networks of journalists, social entrepreneurs/voluntary sector and IT specialists - anybody who is already familiar with social tools would be able to apply - who are interested in making a difference in disconnected communities.
Is your idea linked to a particular town or region?
Social Media CIC works in North Staffordshire and would coordinate the project nationwide, aiming to build a network in 70 different communities, prioritising districts with the highest levels of deprivation according to the IMD 2007 figures (these cover England, I don't know if these projects are UK-wide?). As well as districts, there might be groups that are particularly voiceless.
The project would hopefully have a catalyst effect on volunteer activity and would give a body of evidence for use by local councils or other organisations to continue funding time for social reporters to build connections and skills.
What kind of assistance would you like from others?
Initial indications of practitioners who would be interested in delivering a workshop in their communities or supporting the project, plus any more suggestions on the project would be welcome.
The figures given are quite specific to illustrate potential impact, but obviously this is all open to development.
Posted by Paul on 04 September 2008 at 10:30 AM
Hello Clare
This is a great project and one in which we are also doing so perhaps we can discuss working together?
Cheers
Paul
Posted by Clare White on 04 September 2008 at 03:06 PM
Paul, great! Have you added an idea to here too?
I've started a wikipage here for development: http://socialmediacic.wikidot.com/proposal:democracy-project
Clare
Posted by David Wilcox on 07 September 2008 at 02:01 PM
Hi Clare
As you know, I'm also promoting the idea of social reporting, so naturally think more activity would be great. However, this is new territory and social reporting requires (in my view) an unusual mix of skills and some practice. I wonder if it would be better to pilot in a few places first, rather than aim for an ambitious network? Or maybe find some collaborators?
I think the core idea is great ... it's just that I know how tough it can be to build sustainable national networks, even online!
David
socialreporter.com
Posted by Clare White on 09 September 2008 at 02:32 PM
I'd be inclined to aim for building the network with 70 leaders to start with - that's still going to be quite a small reach into the amount of communities that should be covered.
Perhaps an initial qualification for being involved would simply be a good knowledge of web tools and a strong track record of using social media, ideally some experience in training too and a link with a definable community.
I think there are probably easily 70 people out there who would fit that basic idea but would bring all sorts of different skills and experience into the mix.
If we got them in a room together for a day and used your social reporting game to develop the workshop content we could end up with something very interesting.
Posted by william perrin on 09 September 2008 at 10:00 PM
@clare - this proposal chimes well with something i have been floating based on my experiences in community publishing in Kings Cross. (slides now at http://www.slideshare.net/bill_per/listen-to-us-creating-thousands-of-local-presentation/
the way i have looked at it is to start with the people who have something to say and a burning need to communicate. Train the community activists and give them a voice - only takes few minutes to help them set up in wordpress or typepad.
there is also a cross over with stephen clifts 'issues forums'http://www.dowire.org/notes/?p=434
will get in touch - we should have a chat
Posted by Clare White on 11 September 2008 at 11:27 AM
@William exactly right. It would be great to gather examples of where that "giving people with a burning need" a voice has resulted in significant change to traditional political engagement. I can think of a couple of significant ones in Stoke.
Please join the community we've started at Unltdworld: http://unltdworld.com/groups/group.php?group_id=141
Posted by Peter Anderson on 11 September 2008 at 09:23 PM
Hi, this is a great idea and really compliments the work we're already doing which is setting up a comprehensive consultation tool for all 9763 communities (wards) in the UK. Our tool is called the "VOICE" and all topics suggested on the site are split up into "FOR" and "AGAINST" arguments. This might be a great platform for your volunteers to interact with and create stimulating content for the benefit of the wider community.
Hopefully there will be opportunities for colaboration.
More info at http://www.localeyes.org
Posted by Clare White on 26 September 2008 at 11:42 AM
Many thanks to everybody who offered help and ideas for this project. In developing it for the proposal, the need for a gathering seemed pressing - there are so many people working n similar areas that really should get the chance to get together and build on the amazing work already happening in a collaborative atmosphere. You can see the final proposal at http://socialmediacic.wikidot.com/social-reporters-network-proposal